Times 29371 – The Force, Luke, Feel!

Author   ulacaPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic

Essentially, an easy puzzle, but with a few bits that might throw you, especially if, like me, you fell into the elephant trap at 23 d.

Knowing the city wasn’t enough, was it, you silly boy?!

Across
1 Missing the past lots again, sadly (9)
NOSTALGIA – anagram* of LOTS AGAIN
6 Famous day school experiencing setback (5)
NOTED – D ETON reversed
9 He’s no longer working on plane, maybe having fixed electrical current (7)
RETIREE – RE (on) I (electrical current) in TREE (plane, maybe)
10 Insert court expert once found in European books (7)
ENGRAFT – GRAF (the wonderful Steffi – referred to prosaically, here, as ‘court expert once’ ) in E NT
11 Unspecified number subtracted from lower number (5)
ETHER – nETHER
12 This might secure pay if sent out (6,3)
SAFETY PIN – PAY IF SENT*
14 Pass tailless young horse (3)
COL – COLt
15 Show contempt for lab workers? Ultimately adjust perception (11)
DISCERNMENT – DIS CERN (lab is here the European Organization for Nuclear Research) MEN ~T
17 Tenant of facility left hospital guards more worn-out (11)
LEASEHOLDER – EASE in L + H (the initials for left and hospital go around EASE, or, ‘facility left hospital guards’ in cruciverbal Yoda-speak) OLDER (more worn-out)
19 Gentleman’s opposite majestic basilica, restored at last (3)
CAD – final-letter clue
20 Language’s incredible power inspiring individual catching end of demonstration (9)
ESPERANTO – ESP (incredible power – incredible, indeed) ~N in ERATO (inspiring individual – Muse of love and lyric poetry)
22 Change top when husband leaves (5)
ALTER – hALTER
24 The Republican Party stops loan instalment (7)
TRANCHE – a bit more Yoda-speak: R ANC (African National Congress) in THE
26 Swimmer’s fine withdrawn, I complain (3,4)
KOI CARP – OK reversed I CARP
27 It turns to the left or to the right (5)
ROTOR – well, it turns and it’s a palindrome
28 Amateur actors moving quietly about (9)
LAYPERSON – PLAYERS (actors) with the P moving ON (about)
Down
1 Inquiry’s intermittently followed by English healthcare worker (5)
NURSE – iNqUiRyS E
2 Bag a portion of chips at Chelsea (7)
SATCHEL – hidden
3 Fair game to reject loud transport link (3-6)
AIR-BRIDGE – a slightly bizarre clue: we take off the F (loud) from FAIR, then add a random game (BRIDGE), such as you’ll pretty much never find at a fair
4 Butcher opens a gyros café (6,5)
GREASY SPOON – OPENS A GYROS; I have a bit of a soft spot for these places, going back to my days as a rep
5 Unrestricted payments to government cut (3)
AXE – tAXEs
6 Man on board’s topless when the sun goes down (5)
NIGHT – kNIGHT
7 Crush Liberal’s support for leaders of terrorist regime (7)
TRAMPLE – T~ R~ AMPLE
8 Given film parts, set off (9)
DETONATED – ET in DONATED
13 Chef liked you, mostly getting cooked game from the US (5,6)
FIELD HOCKEY – CHEF LIKED YO; from the US, as hockey there is ice hockey
14 Rubbish instrument Charlie picked up for enthusiast (9)
COLLECTOR – reversal of ROT CELLO C
16 Recalled musical was regularly staged, covering Romeo’s story (9)
NARRATIVE – reversal of EVITA R in RAN (was regularly staged)
18 Material that surfaces when key banks start to press hard (7)
ASPHALT – P~ H in AS (when) ALT (computer key); more Yodaesque stuff: ‘Solvers, words meaning when and key go around the initial letter of press and the abbreviation for hard’
19 Blade severed rope, releasing ring (7)
CUTLASS – CUT LASSo
21 Come back to mind mongrel found beneath tree losing coat (5)
RECUR – tREe CUR (mongrel)
23 City gets drug for old age (5)
RIPEN – RIPON, with the O changed to E (Ecstasy)
25 Slippery character, old PM loses power (3)
EEL – [Sir Robert] PEEL; the Old Harrovian who had two stints as PM in the mid-nineteenth century

 

63 comments on “Times 29371 – The Force, Luke, Feel!”

  1. Enjoyed this one.
    23dn not really a trap, is it? You just have to do what it says .. Ripon is a lovely place though, hardly big enough to be called a city, even though technically it is ..

        1. Rochester being an interesting example of the latter.
          It was a city up until 1998, when Rochester-upon-Medway LGA (the city status holder) was abolished and subsumed into Medway Unitary Authority. This new lot, being the new putative city status holder, inadvertently failed to reapply for continued city status for Rochester under the new authority.
          It’s been a town ever since, despite several attempts to regain its former status. And apparently that makes it unique in British history.

          1. Interesting! I knew that Rochester had bishops because one of them founded my alma mater some time ago. Apparently it’s had bishops since 604. I didn’t know it had been so humbled.

  2. Avoided the trap – I have been to the place too, a market square, and it has a cathedral, hence is a city.

    LAYPERSON is such an ugly word, was my LOI.

    I remember a GREASY SPOON on the way to Norwich when I too was repping for a few years. I asked for a receipt, and the response was:”Yes dear, how much do you want it for?”

    10’32”, thanks ulaca and setter.

    1. Reminds me of the ‘helpful’ cabbies who would give you three or four blank receipts if you asked for one. All electronic now of course.

    2. Pedants corner: a city doesn’t have to have a cathedral and a cathedral doesn’t make a city – I humbly give you Guildford

  3. All pretty straightforward with the exception of ENGRAFT, which totally eluded me. RIPEN went in from the wordplay without knowing the city. Thought AIR-BRIDGE was a bit simple. Liked COLLECTOR when I finally saw ‘cello’. COD to ETHER for the witty mathematical wordplay.
    Thanks U and setter.

  5. 33.42, it would have been a bit quicker if I’d not stupidly put NOSTALGIC which meant AXE – not exactly a difficult one – took an age. Thanks Ulaca.

    From She Belongs to Me:
    She wears an Egyptian ring
    That sparkles before she speaks
    She wears an Egyptian ring
    That sparkles before she speaks
    She’s a hypnotist COLLECTOR
    You are a walking antique

    1. made the same mistake on 1 across. Too excited at getting the answer to check the anagram.

  6. 39 minutes with LOI ASPHALT. My first dog(1949 to 1965) was proud to be a mongrel, and a kinder, gentler soul never walked this earth. I object on his behalf to him being called a cur. Otherwise, I liked this, apart from the field in front of hockey. Restaurant of the day, GREASY SPOON, with fried bread please. Thank you U and setter.

  8. 14:12 on the clock but completed on my phone with a break for the ticket inspector (I had 6 tickets for one journey but the split ticketing rant is for another day). Convinced this would have been a sub-10 and massive PB if I had been at my laptop. Just felt on wavelength with the setter today with only ENGRAFT and TRANCHE requiring any deep thought.

    I did fall into the RIPEN trap but immediately stepped out of it.

    COD DISCERNMENT

    Thanks blogger and setter

  9. 16 minutes, trap avoided by dint of not remembering the city so I had to rely on wordplay. Although I do know Angela Rippon (not personally I hasten to add).

  10. 26 mins so as quick as it gets for me. Nice steady solve with LOI ENGRAFT holding out until I saw the ex tennis star. She was a great player.

    I liked GREASY SPOON, I remember them well, and DETONATED.

    Thanks U and setter. A good start to the week.

  11. 5:58. Easy one today. I assumed GRAF was a noted German constitutional lawyer I hadn’t heard of. Doh!

    1. And I started wondering if there’d been a typo and the setter had meant Count / Graf / Prince etc. Then this penny hit the rather large pile of pennies which have dropped over the past couple of months

  12. 9:05 and probably should have been a bit quicker but had to ponder the rather unusual ENGRAFT for a few moments. Cheese to Friday’s chalk.

  13. 34:06 but one clumsy red square where I had RIPON rather than RIPEN.

    At 11a I saw “lower” and thought, “that’ll be that chestnut for ‘cow’). Wrong chestnut, it was number for “that which numbs”.

    I was surprised at mongrel=cur. Obama had a self deprecating comment about mutts/mongrels. When asked about his family’s search for a dog, he said: “Our preference would be to get a shelter dog, but, obviously, a lot of shelter dogs are mutts. (Pause) Like me”.

    COD ENGRAFT

  14. About 20 minutes.

    – Needed a tennis player trawl to get ENGRAFT
    – Completely misparsed LAYPERSON so I’m glad we don’t have to show our working
    – Thought the second word of 13d might be ‘turkey’ until the O checker set me straight

    Thanks ulaca and setter.

    FOI Nurse
    LOI Engraft
    COD Greasy spoon

  15. 16:45 for a very pleasant start to the week. LOI DISCERNMENT carefully assembled with cern the last bit to cone to mind. Nice crossword, thanks to setter and blogger.

  16. 12.10, but as is my current wont, spent a couple of minutes at the end making sure of my parsings. I still didn’t sort out either ESPERANTO or LEASEHOLDER, reasoning neither could be anything else. And sticking with GRAF as in Zeppelin thinking maybe such counts counted for something in court circles. Gentle and enjoyable.
    Sympathy for Ulaca today: I hate it when I have to admit a pink on blogging duty.

  17. Got off to a quick start with NOSTALGIA. Proceeded steadily until several clues in the NE were outstanding. Eventually spotted DETONATED and DISCERNEMENT. ENGRAFT emerged from the mist next leaving 7d, which was delayed by a previously mis-biffed SAFETY NET, which I eventually noticed had become SAFETY NEN. Revisiting the anagrist for 12a revealed the PIN, and TRAMPLE completed the proceedings. 20:41. Thanks setter and U.

  18. Started as the train drew out of Waverley, finished in 21.05 (somewhere in East Lothian). On tougher days I’d have been south of Berwick.
    FOI NOSTALGIA
    LOI ETHER
    COD DISCERNMENT – I used to visit CERN on (non-scientific) business. Fascinating place; one of the huge underground halls looked like the lair of a Bond villain.
    Thanks U and setter.

  19. My thanks to ulaca and setter.
    Yes, I thought it was easy except that I had no idea how we got to Ripon at 23d. We don’t, it’s ripen. I was trying to justify (ripe, old aged) losing its E tab but never saw where the ON came from, which is hardly surprising.
    10a Engraft was in Cheating Machine, but I added engraftS and ED and ING.

  20. 13:46. Needed the blog to see how TRANCHE worked, as couldn’t parse it for the life of me. A little annoyed that it was one of the Yoda clues that did for my parsing. Thanks Ulaca and setter.

  21. About 27′. Quite a few write-ins but then stuttered a bit over a few. Looked for ages at NHO E-G-AnT (assuming the book was at the end) until the correct meaning of “court” finally came to mind. TRANCHE went unparsed and like ChrisL above, I got to LAYPERSON in totally the wrong way.

    Thanks Ulaca and setter.

  22. 16:36 but…

    …I saw the trap and fell right in, my paltry excuse being that Mrs H was trying to book a flight and I was clearly diverted from the right path while one ear was attending…

    Otherwise, a very enjoyable Monday puzzle – slightly held up at the end as I had a careless NOSTALGIC at 1a which slowed the rather obvious answer to 5d. I liked 15a and 20a.

    Thanks U and setter

  23. 32 minutes, fairly straightforward except that I fell straight into the Ripon trap, so strictly speaking a DNF. Just read the clue and ask yourself what the wordplay suggests. Unfortunately I suspected that ripon was a drug taken by people in their old age, very silly.

  24. 13:10. Nice one. Lots of fun and some great surfaces. Hard to pick a favourite but DETONATED, TRANCHE and ASPHALT all raised a smile. Thank-you U and setter

  25. 30:54
    Another one slowed down by a carelessly biffed NOSTALGIC, as a result of which AXE was my LOI.
    Biffed ESPERANTO as the only language that fitted. Thanks Ulaca for the parsing.
    DISCERNMENT my COD. I know quite a few high energy physicists, and would never show contempt for any of them.

  26. 22 minutes, docked in Dubrovnik.
    Very welcome return to the possible after Friday’s utter rout.
    Biffed COLLECTOR as LOI, couldn’t seem to parse it but there seemed no viable alternative. ESPERANTO making an appearance after what seems an age of absence. With hindsight my COD goes to NOSTALGIA but it was also invoked by many hours spent in GREASY SPOONS.
    Thanks to setter and ulaca.

  27. 22:10 – probably should have been faster but I enjoyed taking my time over this one and parsing carefully as I went

  28. A decent time of 28.24 for me with my LOI ENGRAFT causing me to tarry a little. I had to correct NOSTALGIC and RETIRED on the way, quietly cursing myself for not parsing the clues properly, but I didn’t at least make the same mistake with RIPEN.

  29. I liked this a lot. Mostly straightforward but a few nice little twists -TRANCHE, ENGRAFT and (COD) DISCERNMENT. The puzzle brought back fond memories of my favourite GREASY SPOON in Garret Lane Wandsworth.

    Thanks to Ulaca and the setter

  30. All done in 40 minutes over a lunchtime pinta. Should have been quicker but perhaps I was not fully tuned in to the clueing. Yoda-speak indeed, but no complaints.
    FOI – COL
    LOI – DETONATED
    COD – ENGRAFT
    Thanks to ulaca and other contributors

  31. Same as keriothe above – ascribed legal expertise to an unknown Graf rather than tennis skillz to one I had definitely heard of.

    I was around 13 mins – stopped the clock at 20:36, but had approx 7 min interruption for which I forgot to press pause. Bah.

  32. A pleasant lunchtime solve. All present and correct but a couple of parsings escaped me including Esperanto and tranche.

  33. 5:53, with a couple of biffs. Nearly fell for the trap. Nicely clued and a good start to the week.

  34. DNF. All done in 18 minutes except for ENGRAFT. I eventually realised I was looking for a tennis player but I’d put the N next to the T so it was never going to work. Thanks ulaca.

  35. Very nice crossword. Would have been a fast time for me – except I fell into the trap set in North Yorkshire.

    COD: ENGRAFT. Court expert once.
    ​:-)

    Thanks to our blogger and setter.

  36. About 7 minutes which is as fast as I can read/write. Only slight pause was ENGRAFT where I completely missed Steffi and went, with a shrug, for the German aristocrat. Liked GREASY SPOON, nice surface.

  37. Ooh I swear..if I see that clue at 27a one more time…I don’t know what I might not do…

  38. 20 mins, but I struggled with ENGRAFT, because I’d already typed in NT at the end. I knew it was a tennis player but none that I knew fitted…

  39. Wondered if 17ac and 19ac in the same line was a topical royal comment, but probably not.

  40. A re-entry for me after travel, and I’m grateful for the gentle puzzle today. I was just a little delayed by some seldom-heard-ofs — notably TRANCHE and KOI CARP, and a lot delayed by my total ignorance of tennis, finally getting to ENGRAFT by thinking about German nobility somehow being related to “court”. Gee, it would have helped a lot if I hadn’t skipped over the write-in NIGHT. I finished in 30:47, a decent time for me. I thought ETHER very cute. Could not parse ESPERANTO, so thanks for the help.

    Thanks setter and ulaca.

  41. 11.18

    Also had NOSTALGIA but the C didnt look right for the down clue so reasonably quickly picked up the mistake. ENGRAFT LOI and needed the thinking cap.

    Thanks setter/Ulaca

  43. 37 minutes. I thought this might be a stroll after NOSTALGIA and NOTED went straight in. NHO ENGRAFTED but got there in the end . Ms Graf is probably the most recent female tennis player I can bring to mind.

  44. 26 minutes, very easy but nice. I liked DISCERNMENT because of the lab, and LEASEHOLDER for its facility. But there were other fun clues.

  45. 40:42. Massively not on the wavelength today… ENGRAFT was my LOI which required a check of the dictionary. not sure why I found this so hard!

  46. Some write-ins at the top lead me to imagine I was going to be super quick, but then had to slow down and parse properly. DISCERNMENT was a question of looking for a word between DIS and MENT, so CERN quickly came to mind – I wouldn’t have thought of it on its own. Never quite parsed TRANCHE, LOI, although I got the ANC bit, just not the THE! LAYPERSON was clever and TRAMPLE took ages to get and even longer to parse, as I was misled into assuming Liberal was L. Perhaps a bit too much Yoda holding things up, but on the whole it was good fun.

  47. A day late, but COD to ROTOR, a kind a of definition + &littish double dose of wordplay.
    Definition: It turns
    to the left OR = RO
    to = TO
    (the)
    right = R.
    As well you can read it as a palindrome indicator.

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